To change Pa.'s property-tax system, everyone's voice must be heard

And like a good watchdog, we know when someone is creeping around the house.

In this case, they're creeping around the House and the Senate.

We've made it our mission this year to keep a close eye on property tax reform and the funding formula used by the state to determine how much money is allocated to individual school districts.

Our watchdog role will only take us so far, though.

Once we have the burglar backed up against the wall, the homeowner has to come in and take over.

That's your cue.

As the homeowner, your role is to contact your local legislator and let him or her know, in no uncertain terms, how important property tax reform is to you and your family. Your conversation with your elected official will be to let them know, in no uncertain terms, that if they cannot find a way to make property tax reform a reality, you'll be voting for someone who can.

This is an election year, folks.

The timing is right.

This year all 203 House seats are up for re-election, as well as half (all the even numbered districts) of the state Senate seats.

You can throw in the governor's mansion, too.

We the people of Pennsylvania have been clamoring for property tax reform for decades, but we the people have not banded together to make it a reality.

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This is our chance.

We have the attention of our elected officials. Now we need to let them know we're serious about property tax reform.

We have impressive organizations touting the benefits of the Property Tax Independence Act, otherwise known as House Bill 76 and Senate Bill 76, including the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors.

The Property Tax Independence Act will increase the personal income tax from 3.07 to 4.34 percent and increase and widen the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent. The first thing this will do is take the burden of funding public education off the backs of seniors and put it on wage earners, where it belongs.

This bill, unlike others the state legislature has proposed, has been vetted more than a Supreme Court justice candidate.

Unfortunately, the House and Senate versions of the bill are still languishing in their respective finance committees.

This is where we start.

The Senate finance committee is chaired by Mike Brubaker and the vice chair is Scott Hutchinson, with fellow Republican members Joe Scarnati, Pat Browne, John Eichelberger, Stewart Greenleaf and Pat Vance. Democrats on the committee include John Blake, minority chair, Matt Smith, Rob Teplitz and John Wozniak.